Lexus ES 250 2015 – Dhs 155,000 – Owner’s review

Lexus, a brand that stands for pure luxury and comfort. There’s no place like UAE where luxury cars are more affordable and a joy to own one. But they don’t come cheap. For some it’s years of savings that goes into a car. After driving the Lexus ES 250 for more than a year I thought it would good to share my experience here. Also with this I now start a new chapter for cars on Dubaicravings.com

Lexus ES 2015 – exterior

The 2013 was actually an eye opener by Lexus for their design. It was a welcome design to the modern world. For the first time I could actually see Lexus taking design seriously and competitive. The interiors were so beautiful and completely different from the past that we had to appreciate the craftsmanship. Probably the gear in the ES was the only component that was not really changed. Some of the reasons why I opted for a Lexus in the first place was

Reliability

Lower maintenance cost

Better resale value

Gorgeous design

There is a turn off for some people not buying the Lexus ES simply because almost all the hotels in Dubai have a chauffeur driven Lexus ES 350.

Lexus ES 2015 – exterior

A full tank on a Lexus ES 250 for dhs 90 would give me approx. 640kms drive.

The Lexus ES is a true gentleman’s car. Driving this car is just a pleasure. It’s quiet, comfortable and smooth. The ES steering is as smooth as a fluid and just makes driving so effortless. When it comes to performance, under the hood the Lexus ES 250 has a 2.5L 4-cylinder engine that generates 181 horsepower. It is said to be using the same engine as the one found in Toyota Camry but rest everything else is different in this car. If you are looking forward to a power performance show from this one, then you will be disappointed. Although the exteriors and the latest spindle grille gives the car the look of a performance car, it by no means is aggressive. Some times I do wish the car had that extra power to take off or lets say I could feel the lack of power at times. It can’t give you a thrilling experience but rather delivers an elegant and a quite drive. The car does have a sport mode along with ECO and NORMAL mode. When you change to sports mode, the car steering gets more stiff and tries to be more responsive when you step on the accelerator. But honestly, the sports mode is not very convincing. Usually I drive in normal mode, where driving is easy and relaxed unless when I am stuck in Dubai traffic specially on my way back from office is when I use the ECO mode in the hope of saving some petrol. Once you put the car in the echo mode you can suddenly feel your AC drop it’s intensity and further lag in acceleration of the car. So I prefer to primarily use the echo mode only in extreme slow moving traffic.

Interiors of Lexus ES – the leather stitch and wood trim

You are looking at a Lexus ES with a premier package or in other words the starting package for an ES model. For this price range, you could think about the IS as well. The size was the prime factor that we decided to go for the ES. The length and width between the IS and ES made a big difference. The leg room for the passenger behind was spacious and you could not find any other luxury car giving you so much of space at the same price point. To me the premier package had all that I needed. What I mainly miss out from the next package would be the memory seats, ventilated seats, navigation system, electronic curtains and a better looking wood trim for which you will need to pay additional Dhs 20,000.

ELECTROLUMINESCENT INSTRUMENTATIONELECTROLUMINESCENT INSTRUMENTATION

ELECTROLUMINESCENT INSTRUMENTATION is pretty sharp in display and love the ambient lighting that changes depending on the kind of drive. There is also a welcome lighting when you approach the car. What impresses me about this car is the operational convenience and how perfectly they all work without any flaw. For example, the smart entry system, I don’t even have to click a button to open the door. I just need to touch the handle to lock and unlock the car. Sure this smart entry feature already exist in other cars like BMW and infinity or even Nissan but all of them has a button at the handle that needs to be clicked. Here you just need to touch the handle. You think it’s not a big deal but it makes a big difference considering the fact that you will be using it all the time when you reach the car. The information on the car such as the tire pressure and other such parameters are clearly visible on the instrumental panel of the car. Interestingly, it also reads the air pressure of your spare tyre in the trunk as well. The integrated bluetooth works flawless except I have never been able to place calls using voice commands. They say you can call out a name and it should dial the number but really it only works once out of 10 tries 🙁 The Lexus speaker system sounds best when I play music directly from my iphone via bluetooth. One of the best parts for me in the car is the Power Tilt and telescopic steering wheel which adjusts the steering wheel position once I switch on and off the car, making it convenient for the driver to get in and out of the car. Also makes an impression to your guests in the car 😉

10 way power front passenger seat

What makes Lexus special is the high quality fabric they use. Even the floor mats are not compromised. Floor mats are thick and they are also buttoned to the floor so they don’t move out of place. The fact such detail is thought during the design process is amazing and that’s what makes Lexus, a Lexus. The work on the dashboard is actually hand stitched and gives a great feel and look to the dashboard. By the way, the most noticed object in the car is the analogue clock. Almost everyone who’s been with me in the car had a few words to say on the elegant clock found in the center of the console. Talking about safety, you will find that they have stuffed airbags almost every possible space in the car.

Lexus ES 2015 – exterior

This is actually the old story. For 2016, Lexus ES had a greater uplift. We’ve seen minor changes before but this one was really a big facelift that made the car look almost different. The spindle grille now is even more attractive looking and the steering wheel is now completed changed and is circular. But I still love the looks of the old steering wheel. The upper lights now feel glass instead of plastic. These are some of the changes that I physically noticed when I visited the car recently. There’s been a few technical improvements as well like further cabin noise reduction etc. Oh and the price is now bumped to 5000 Dhs more so the new price for the ES 250 2016 model is Dhs 160,000. Hope the review has been useful to some of you.

Click here to visit the official UAE Lexus ES page. Click pictures below to see them in full screen view: